By Mark Pszonak
With how hectic the college football calendar is, there aren’t many “good” times to experience a head coaching chance. But Kent State is now undergoing a head coaching change during one of the worst possible times, two days before the beginning of spring practice, as they placed Kenni Burns on administrative leave.
Sources: Kent State football coach Kenni Burns has been placed on administrative leave.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 27, 2025
Nothing official has been announced by Kent State at this time, so there is plenty of speculation as to why this is occurring. Back in November, it was reported that an Ohio bank was “suing Kent State head football coach Kenni Burns for unpaid credit card debt totaling $23,852.09 plus interest, according to publicly available court documents accessed by CBS Sports.”
This immediately became a head-scratcher considering Coach Burns has a base salary of $475,000 with the Golden Flashes.
“In a complaint filed on Sept. 13, Kent-based Hometown Bank alleges Burns applied for and was issued a credit card and failed to make minimum monthly payments on the card as well as exceeding the credit limit of $20,000.”
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It is safe to say that there is much more to this story, with additional information likely to leak out in the coming hours and days.
On the field, Burns was hired by Kent State in December 2022. In two seasons in charge, he had led the Golden Flashes to a 1-23 record. Prior to his current role, he was an assistant at Minnesota under coach P.J. Fleck for six seasons.
